Subject: Re: Is Trump's military budget a bribe?
If that's the case, they're not doing it. We're drawing down our missile inventory in a pointless war, and we're spending a fortune on a nuclear battle cruiser that could better be spent on finishing and deploying DDG(X) and the new frigates. It was already going to be a few years before either of those ships were ready, and now we're wasting time and money on a cruiser that -if it ever is launched, which is unlikely- is at least a decade away, and relies on 'wonder weapons' that aren't deployable yet.


DDG(X)'s status as of September:
https://www.congress.gov/crs_e...

It's not ready yet. The BBG concept can be debated but it's clear the fleet needs a class of battle cruiser that can stay at sea as long as a carrier can. The Arleigh Burkes are fantastic tributes to Admiral "31 knot" Burke but they've run out their design string.

We are NOT getting ready for China. We're letting them get ahead of us because they have an actual ship building plan, and they're doing it well.

We're playing catch-up. What's happened to America's shipyards in the decades since WWII has been nothing short of a tragedy.